Sharon Persey

Rally/Obedience Instructor.

Rally Obedience is now over 2 years old and we have had a blast with it at Performance Dogs in Action.  I have had a ball working with a variety of breeds of dogs and the people are always fun.

We spent the first year learning the signs and techniques associated with Rally Obedience.  We are now working through the Advanced and Excellent classes with several RN dogs.  It has been a learning experience for both me and my students - but the bottom line is we are all having fun with our dogs.

BACKGROUND I have been breeding and showing shelties for 25 years. I moved in with my Mom 12 years ago, thus doubling our dogs and breeding programs. My kennel - Ronlee has produced some excellent agility dogs. Mom’s kennel Leoden (which has become our kennel) - has produced many champions and several excellent agility dogs and some obedience stars also. We continue to do limited breeding under Camp Sheltie Home of Leodens and Ronlee. We have bred dogs that have earned MACH3. NATCH, CA TCH, and ADCH.  We are doing very limited breeding now but ALL puppies are play trained with agility in mind from 4 weeks on. We currently have dogs in competition in all venues. 

OBEDIENCE The first 12 years I was raising a family and incorporated my breeding program into family life so I was the leader of a very successful 4-H group in Oregon for 12+ years. Our club varied from 6 members to start with the first year - to as many as 33 members in some of our busier years. Our members earned a total of 8 AKC CD’s with their 4-H trained dogs. Our club members also garnered High Scoring Dog and Best Showman at their county fair almost every year we were in existence. And many of those youngsters went on to be handlers, obedience and agility instructors, and vet techs and one veterinarian. When I get a chance to talk to any of them they attribute their success to things they learned participating in 4-H and our dog project group.

This experience led me down the path to Rally Obedience - and we are learning more every day as this sport grows.